Wednesday, December 30, 2009

My aunt, uncle and one of my cousins are due to arrive this afternoon to spend a few days over New Year with us - I think I've done enough of a clear-up job around the house to get away with - mind you the ironing mountain is something I've not had time to tackle.Anyway, as it's WOYWW I thought I'd see if I could do a quick blog post while I drink this cup of coffee I keep forgetting about.

My desk is a bit like the Marie Celeste I'm afraid. There's plenty of mess to check out but not much sign of crafting. You'd think that with just the two of us around the place I'd have spent some time in the craft area or on the pc - but that's not how it works out. We've had family pop in, we've been out and about to visit others, we've "played" with the various new toys - new wii games (family ski and formula 1) and of course my gorgeous new iPod Touch (never far from my fingers....), and lots of other things that have kept both of us away from the study - well, it is Christmas and it's just nice to have some time to spend together.

Yesterday we were at the theatre - a wonderful surprise treat from Hubby - I opened one of my presents to find a "Breakfast at Tiffany's" gift bag with a lovely china mug inside, plus tickets for yesterday's matinee performance of the play currently on at The Haymarket theatre. Anna Friel is playing Holly Golightly - she was fab - the stage play is quite different from the film and definitely worth seeing if you can. I did miss hearing "Moon River" though.

I love going to matinees - you can have a leisurely trip into London arrive in time for lunch, go to the theatre for the show then you're out in time to go for a nice meal before heading for home - no panic about catching late night trains which stop at every two-bit station on the way home.

Just had a call to say my rellies are fast approaching, so I'm writing quickly now....

Here are a couple of photos of the voucher holder I made to present MILs magazine subscription info in

Thursday, December 24, 2009

Just a quick post todayMy wish of yesterday for the snow to go seems to be coming true. We had some rain last night and there's a bit of a thaw going on - though the road outside looks rather like an ice rink just now and there's still a lot of snow about.

Just because it's Christmas week doesn't mean there's nothing happening on Bubbly Scrumptious - the team have still been crafting and posting on there and there's plenty to see, so if you do get the odd five minutes peace and quiet - do head over and have a look.

Thursday is my day to add something to the emag and today I'm doing a bit of an update rather than anything "new". Last month I made a little Christmas Pocket Book with the idea of using it to record some of the run up to Christmas and of course the Christmas/New Year period itself.

So today on BubScrump I'm just sharing those pages I've been working on. I doubt that any are actually finished, but you can see the Work in Progress by clicking HERE

Last for today, some tags I made at the weekend - how come I never have enough of the little blighters? Hubby and I don't even put any on the presents we buy for each other, but still I always end up scrabbling around making a few more at the last minute

I made this template for Mr Robo last year and have used it a couple of times this year too. If you scroll back a bit you'll find some cards I used it on.It made some really easy tags - I cut the base in card then the fringe in a couple of different VG papers. A few blobs of Stickles and they were done. I wish I'd thought of it earlier!

Anyway, that's all from me till after the Big Day.

I just want to send all my Blog-friends the very best wishes for a wonderfully happy and peaceful Christmas. I hope all your wishes come true and you enjoy the holiday, however you spend it.

Wednesday, December 23, 2009

Well we've still got loads of snow here, it snowed again on Monday evening - it all looks very pretty but I'm bored with it now and I'd like it to please go away. At least from the roads and paths, the rest can stay if it likes, hehe.

The last couple of days it's been like living in Black and White around here - hardly any colour to be seen at all - the lovely clear blue skies we had up till yesterday have faded to grey - it's quite ethereal really.

Last week I showed the first couple of cards made with the December set of Crafty Templates, it's been a bit hectic since then so I've not had time to blog my other card. This one is made using the template set of Quirky Flowers.

I think these flowers are so much fun and I'm thinking that they'll be great to use on Thank you cards as well as fir "any occasion" cards as I've done here.The papers are all from the Crafty Goodies Kit, the ribbon also came in one of Leo's past kits. All I added was the gems and the Stickles

It's Wednesday aka WOYW fay so here's how my workmess looks right nowAnd finally, I thought I'd add a photo of our tree - to show that we did actually finish dressing it - just in case you were wondering whether it got past the last photo of it that I showed on here!I guess that few of us have much time for blogging right now. I hope that if you're "under snow" atm that you're managing to keep warm and safe.Hope to catch up with everyone soon

Friday, December 18, 2009

Oooer Missus! We have snow - and quite a lot of it too.At the moment it's beautifully sunny out there so it's all looking very pretty. I've taken some photos from the back windows, but the sun is on the front at the moment - I may venture out there eventually but maybe not! I went as far as the bord feeding station to brush the snow off the various feeders and put some water out - which has probably turned to ice by now. Had to wear Hubby's big boots hahaha, as I don't really have snow-suitable footwear!Anyway, here's how it's looking at the bottom of the garden just now:Today sees the last dare of the year for The Daring Cardmakers - we're taking a couple of weeks off setting dares so that means you have absolutely ages to join in with the one that Sue is setting today. This is the perfect dare for this time of year, it's called New Beginnings and Sue is asking for cards celebrating all sorts of "New". It could be New Year, New Home, New Baby, New Job or anything else you can think of.

I wasn't sure what to do until we received a Christmas card early this week with a little note inside to say that my firend's daughter - who was our "little" bridesmaid at our wedding 16 years ago had her first baby at the beginning of this month.

Lovely news and what luck for me!

A very simple card - but I did manage to use lots of gadgetry!MS corner punch fro one of the "Round the Page" setsZutter Round-it-All on the darker pink squareSpellbinders scalloped circleCuttlebug Tiny Hearts embossing folder ( it doesn't show up, but it's there)Cropodile for ribbon holesCraft Robo to cut the pram and name

You see - I really do need ALL of those things I can't resist buying!

The pram template is one of my own - for some reason I forgot to add a handle to the template so I had to cut that by hand!

Please pop over to the Daring Cardmakers BLOG to see the fab cards the girls have made this week, and if you get a minute during the next couple of hectic weeks, we'd love you to join in and share your New themed cards with us. We'll be back on the 8th of January with our first dare of 2010 so you've loads of time to join in with Sue's dare before then.

That doesn't mean I won't be posting on my blog over the holidays though - I've got a few things ready to share and as I don't think the study will be needed as an extra bedroom this year I can still wallow in my crafty mess when I get the chance! With a bit of luck I'll even get a chance to do some catching up on what all my blog pals have been up to lately...

Thursday, December 17, 2009

For Bubbly Scrumptious this week I've again been playing with the current Bubbly Funk Kit ^Violette Wings" which is stuffed full of Webster's Pages. I've been thinking about gift wrapping this time and have made and covered a box, then a few bows and fripperies to make presents look a little bit special. There's also an idea which could be a gift decoration or used as a place card - wouldn't your Christmas table look extra swish with posh place cards for everyone? Check out the projects HERE and see all the options for the KIT HERE - Webster's Pages aren't so easy to get your hands on over here, and Bubbly Funk has a few sets to choose from, as well as the kit option.Yet again I completely forgot to do my WOYWW until it was too dark for photos. Mind you, I'm not sure it was ever light, yesterday!So I've done some photos this morning - I've put some labels on the first one - a bit like a guided tour really heheThis one is a closer look of what's on my desk atm These are my ribbon drawers, the top left is the bits and bobs drawer.Top right the main drawer with nice neat ribbons all carded up and sorted by colourThe lower left is a deeper drawer with reels of ribbon, bags of scraps and balls of wool/fibre

Hopefully a bumper crop of photos will let me off my late posting!

That's it for today, I really do need to get some crafting done today - and I MUST finish writing my cards and get them in the post. I am soooo late!

Tuesday, December 15, 2009

At the weekend we got the tree stuff out of the loft. The Guest room is now full of boxes.The tree is out of it's box and sort of on it's way - it looks like this atm. Poor thing!Hopefully it will start looking better and more festive as the week goes on. It's about this time when we cross our fingers and toes and hope all the lights will still be working when we get them out of the boxes.You know how "real" trees drop their needles? Well this artificial one has ideas above it's station - you should see the mess all over the floor.

On to some crafty stuff.The new set of Templates from Crafty Templates are out this week, along with the option to order up one of Leo's Goodies Kit of papers, card and lots of different embellishments. You can check both templates and goodies out by clicking HERE

It's been good to have a change from Christmas stuff as the templates are a lovely mixture of ideas for all sorts of occasions, there are birds, frames, borders, flowers, hearts and all sorts of other templates this month.Here are the first two cards I've made using the templates and the blue & chocolate themed goodies kitI used a scrapling card to make this thank you card. This is the "Huggy Star" template - isn't it cute? The gorgeous beady embellishment, the sequin trim and the letters were all in the goodies kit along with the various papers I've used

I love this Birdie on a Branch template - and it's so easy to cut out!I used more of the sequin trim to make the tree trunk and along the branch. The papers and ebellishents are a mix of things from the kit and from my stash.

That's it for today. Someone keeps stealing all my time away - if you happen to know who it is, could you tell them to stop it please?

Friday, December 11, 2009

Ohhhh I had a couple of hours panic this morning when I switched on the pc and nothing happened!

Hubby's working from home and we were already talking new pc options - but he sneaked a few minutes away from his work to see if he could see what the problem was. Bless his cotton socks!What he found was a bit of memory he'd put in just because it was lying around had decided to break itself and then stop everything else working too. Once he'd taken it out, lo and behold a little pre-Christmas miracle happened and all started working again. I tell you, it was a big "PHEW!" moment. I'll be making the coffees all day today instead of us taking turns!

So anyway, I'm now rushing to catch up on the stuff I usually do on Friday mornings so this is a real quickie!

As usual it's DCM day and today it's Vanessa 's turn and she appears to be fed up with all the Christmas stuff - she wants no sign of Christmas or Winter on our cards this week - and she's gone a bit dotty too!

I thought we'd have a little break from all things Christmassy. So, for one week only over this festive period, we're having a no-Christmas and no-Winter zone! Its polka-dot week! Lets bring some warmth to our cards with polka dots, but I don't mean spots or dots in a variety of sizes, it has to be specifically polka-dots (i.e. a pattern of dots of equal size, equally spaced). However, you can have whatever colour(s) you choose as long as your card doesn't look cold and wintry!!

It's amazing how many polka dot bits and pieces I found in my stash - papers, buttons, ribbons and flowers - most of course not matching each other.

I've made another scrapling card - I really do like these little things they are such fun to make.Both the polka dot papers I've used here are actually velvet papers which I'm hoping qualifies them for the "warmth" factor as the feel lovely. I didn't actually read the dare properly till after I'd made this so I'm clutching at straws a bit here. Mind you I wasn't the only one! lol

Polka dot flower and ribbon are from my stash. I didn't have a button to match so I dotted a plain one with liquid pearls - I know it's not perfect, but you can't have it all!

Right, got to get on with the next project!Please don't forget to check the DCM BLOG today for some more hot dotty!Thanks for looking

Thursday, December 10, 2009

It never occurred to me when I posted the sneak peek yesterday that some of you would only manage to come up with an X as the next letter. If I'd thought about it though, I could have guessed which of you would assume that an S and an E could only be followed by an X.Rude lot that you are!

As if.

So, a couple more letters for you and no doubt you'll think it's something to do with summer holidays now.....Or maybe not!

The brand new kit from Bubbly Funk is made up of a veritable feast of goodies from Webster's Pages - not just Christmas ones either - it's a bumper kit to see us through into the new year so there are lots of non-Christmas papers in there too - plus all sorts of other bits and pieces to go with it, of course.

I knew there were going to be problems as soon as I opened my Kit Box last Friday. This stuff is seriously gorgeous and the only way I was going to manage to cut into those papers was that if at least the first thing I made would be staying here. With me.

Here's what I came up with

I bought this 8" square canvas on a rare visit to Hobbycraft a few weeks ago . I've never made a canvas before but this seemed the perfect opportunity to give it a go.I'm really happy with the results and this will be going on the wall, or the mantlepiece once the decorations go up.

You can see how I made it on the Bubbly Scrumptious emag HERE I hope you like it.

Still trying to work my way through that old to-do list. Top of my crafty to-dos for today is my dcm card for tomorrow. Hope you're getting through your lists too

Wednesday, December 09, 2009

I remember bit quicker today about it being Wednesday and therefore WOYWW day, so have actually taken my photo on the right day. Wednesday morning is usually when I write up my project for tomorrow's Bubbly Scrumptious. I try to get it done as quickly as I can so that I can get back to my craft desk, but sometimes it takes me longer and I don't get to craft at all. Today, I'm taking a quick break from the project writing (I'm nearly finished, anyway) to do a blog post.

Anyway that's a long-winded way of saying that what you see on my desk is how I left it yesterday. I've sneakily dumped a piece of red tissue paper over the last thing I was working on, but the bits and pieces I'm using are there. If you look between the rubbish pot and the glue pot you'll see a sneak peek of the other standing photo album I'm busy with too - just got the covers to do and it'll be ready to show.

I think it was Tracey who spotted the Glossy Accents in the rubbish pot - well, I don't actually use a whole pot every week, and I do empty the rubbish every few days - the GA bottle just tends to live in there because it's a convenient place to up-end it in the hope that it won't clog up. Sometimes it can be found in the pot of bulldog clips which is also always at hand.

I thought I'd add a second photo and open the drawer which is so full of just little scraps of ribbon and lace that I have to force it shut. The idea is that if it's near to hand I'm more likely to check the scraps before I cut into the longer lengths of ribbon. Sometimes it even works.If you popped by last week you'll have seen that I was very proud of my newly tidied desk. as you can see, that didn't last long and it's all back to a more normal state this week.

Well.... I've got a lot on atm and keeping tidy is just not on the to-do list!

As some of those lovely people who left a comment yesterday said they liked seeing sneak peeks I thought I'd taunt/tempt you with another one! Can you hear my evil chortles yet?Right, back to that other task. Or maybe I'll have some lunch first....

Tuesday, December 08, 2009

me too - but I thought it was about time I did a quick update on here. The first photo is just a small glimpse of something I've made but can't share yet - I love the colours and couldn't resist adding a sneak peek on hereMy niece asked me to make some standing photo albums for a couple of her friends - so that's what I've been trying to get done over the last few days, The first is finished and the second just needs the covers done so I'll be showing that on here soon.

Do you recognise the papers?I bought a few more sheets of the papers that were in the Bubbly Funk September kit which was based around the MME Clourful Christmas paper collection. Most of the papers had at least one side which wasn't overtly Christmassy, and the colours and designs were so bright and cheerful that I thought they'd be perfect for this job - what do you think? I love it when you can get a bit more mileage out of Christmas stuff!

SALE SALE SALE

One last thing - just in case you're not "in the know" Anice has updated the Funky Hand shop site and to celebrate getting it all done and on-line there's a SALE! You can get 33% off all the Funky Hand CDs if you get your order in soon!

Right, now I need to go and re-take some photos I made a hash of before all the light has gone again.

Friday, December 04, 2009

If you follow the Daring Cardmakers you'll know that we've recently been lucky enough to recruit two wonderfully talented new designers to the team. On the DCM we all take a turn at coming up with a dare - we usually let our new teamies find their feet for a few weeks before asking them to step up to the mark and, a couple of weeks back it was "new girl" Paula who set our weekly challenge - remember the "Scraplings" one? I loved that, I've been saving my offcuts ever since to make more! Anyway, that left our other "new girl" Lynda perched on the hot bricks waiting for her turn - which has finally arrived.

Say it in "Sepia"

I've been sorting through some "Old" family photographs with the intention of Scrapbooking them and I just love the Sepia ones. So I thought it would be nice to see a "Thank You" card made using "sepia" tones. So that's just brown/white or brown/cream depending on your card base colour. . We will all be needing "Thank You" cards after Christmas so that's why I chose that sentiment just to help us all get started.

I really enjoyed making my card, Such a treat to indulge a love of flowers, ribbon and lace and make something frilly with an old-fashioned romantic feel!

It was also a jolly good excuse to make use of the new MS punch set that arrived a few days ago.

Supplies:Various Distress Inks (Bubbly Funk)Prima Artful Collage Flowers, large wired rose for centreScraps of ecru lacePearl beadsSatin RibbonCard Candy (Creative Treasures)MS Punch set (Charmed Cards and Crafts)Rub-on is one from the sheet I made a few weeks ago

This was a great way to jolt us out of all those Christmas colours we've been up to our eyes in for what seems like ever! And Lynda's right, we do need to start thinking about "Thank You" cards. I know it won't happen, but it would be lovely to have some made and ready to send out straight after Christmas - I always get them done eventually, but usually not as quickly as I'd like.

Please pop over to the DCM BLOG and have a look at the lovely colour-coordinated cards we've made this week. We'd love you to join in with us and make some sepia cards for us to see - it would be wonderful if we had LOADS of cards to see this week, especially as it's Lynda's first dare and she's been worrying about it for weeks! lol lol.In all seriousness - it's easy to forget how scary it is when you first set a dare, there's always the nagging feeling that everyone will hate it and you'll be the first person to set a challenge that no-one wants to join in with.

Well, I need to get back to my crafting "to-do" list. There's also the washing, ironing, cleaning, gift wrapping, card-writing etc etc.....butlet's not talk about that, eh?

Thursday, December 03, 2009

Yet again I'm late with my "What's on Your Workdesk Wednesday" But as an extra special treat I've got two photos to share and one will shock your little socks off!

First though, Thursday is my day over on the Bubbly Scrumptious emag. In case you don't already know, this is the e-zine for the Bubbly Funk SHOP and is stuffed full of ideas and projects using the monthly kits, mini-kits and lots of other things available from the shop.I usually work with the monthly kits and this month's is based around the "Christmas Magic" collection from Fancy Pants. I absolutely adore it - muted red, green and blue shades are much more to my taste for Christmas projects than the brighter colours so this one is right up my alley.

This week I've made this little gift bag. It stands about 16cms high, is 10cms across and about 4cms deep, so a good size for a little pressie that might otherwise get lost amidst the chaos under the tree on Christmas morning!All the instructions on how to make it are HERE and if you do have time for a browse - do go to the main page and check out what everyone else has been doing, Ruth, Sarah, Kaz, Linda, Caroline and I try really hard to make "bubscrump" an inspiring place to visit and there's something new to see every day of the week and something for the weekends too ;)

So, my LWOYWW. By the time I remembered what day it was lol, any daylight that we had yesterday had gone, so I took my photo this morning instead. If you really really want to see how much of a mess it's in, you can click on the image. Someone - I can't remember who it was, sorry, asked for a bigger picture - well that's just masochistic, but I have made this week's photos larger so if you really want to peer closer into the depths of my grime then you can Something really strange happened after I took the photo. I had this weird urge to sweep away all the scraps, dust and mess and have a bit of a clear up. Shocking, I know,I'm sorry if that's left you feeling faint.It wasn't the biggest tidy up in the world - oh no, that's going to happen when we have to clear out the study to let the builders in as we're having some internal insulation fitted (the house isn't ancient, but too old to have cavity walls) to this room as a bit of an experiment. The whole idea of clearing out my stuff brings me out in a rash and a panic, but I'm hoping to con some decent shelving out of the upheaval, at the moment it's all cast-off bookcases and plastic drawers that fall to bits as soon as you look at them.

So, what does my desk look like right at this very moment? It looks like this and you'd better look quickly because it won't last longLOOK! you can see the wood (well the laminate!). I've corralled all the punches that were lying around the desk into one place just for Suzie (oops, that should be suSie, sorry hun! lol), and marshalled the Queues that I'd been using into a neat row - just for the photo. I've also tidied the stuff hanging from the hooks at the back and found stuff I didn't know I had. Oh, and I took the green mat downstairs and gave it a clean with my Lakeland steam mop - this has got to be my favourite Lakeland purchase ever! it certainly gets more use than the dreaded Fiskars Shapeboss I bought from them in a moment of madness. Mind you, I didn't actually buy the mop for crafting purposes - but it's amazing how just about anything can be pressed into use when a crafter gets their hands on it!Right, I'm off to mess up my desk again now - I have two projects I must finish. Oh, and I should probably move all the stuff I dumped on the floor as I can't actually walk across the room atm......